


Juvenescence

by opal_oasis



Series: The Ghosts That Haunt Us [1]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Childhood Trauma, Don't Like Don't Read, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Oh My God, Recreational Drug Use, The Author Regrets Everything
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-09
Updated: 2019-03-09
Packaged: 2019-11-14 05:11:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18046133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/opal_oasis/pseuds/opal_oasis
Summary: Diego Hargreeves has always been a light sleeper so it's no surprise when something wakes him up in the middle of the night. However, he didn't expect that something to be a crying Klaus. Even though Diego has never been one for words, he tries to comfort Klaus the only way that he thinks he can.





	Juvenescence

**Author's Note:**

> Well... I'm certainly not mentally stable, yay, how about you guys?? I love Klaus and he definitely deserved betterrrrrr. I listened to Late Night Vibes on Spotify while writing this so give it a try.

Diego Hargreeves has always been a light sleeper so it wasn't a surprise when something seemed to wake him up in the middle of the night. Shooting up from his bed in one swift movement, Diego inspected his room and soon noticed nothing was out of the ordinary. He breathed in, unclenching his fists.

Right before he was going to rule the whole event as nothing, he heard the sound again. A hollow thump. Diego was up and outside his room in seconds. Part of him was angry at whatever woke him up, but that was the part of his brain that wasn't working completely yet. The other part was peaked with curiosity and worry. 

Was this another break-in? Should he call for backup? Before he could though, he found where the sound was coming from. Klaus' room. Diego put his fists down and placed his ear against the door. For a moment, he couldn't hear anything and thought of leaving. IHowever, something in the back of his head screamed for him to stay.

Then he heard it again. Another thump followed by a whimper. Klaus was in trouble. Klaus. His Klaus. And he was finally in the position to help. To make up for all the times he turned his back on Klaus. 

Diego spent a second fighting with himself because he called Klaus his. Klaus wasn't his. If anything Klaus belonged to the ghosts that haunted him and that simple thought haunted Diego for as long as he could remember. Klaus couldn't be his. It was forbidden. Ever since their father had caught them comforting each other after missions and being closer than brothers should be, he banned them from being together. Then their father had sent Klaus to the massouleum. He was never the same after that. 

A part of Diego died the day Klaus first ODed. Ever since then, Diego distanced his way from Klaus, not knowing Klaus needed the exact opposite. They were merely children at the time. Diego was sure he wasn't going to repeat his mistake. 

Diego knocked on Klaus' door softly, trying not to wake anyone else up. Diego heard shuffling from the other side of the door and suddenly the door cracked an inch. 

"Klaus? Are you okay? I heard something," Diego said, trying to push the door farther, but was meet with resistance from the other side. Even though Diego was much stronger than Klaus, he respected his privacy. 

"Was I being too loud? Sorry, I'll keep it down," Klaus responded, with a short laugh and quickly tried to close the door, but it was Diego's time to resist. 

"You didn't answer my question." 

"Look, Diego, go to sleep. I'm sorry for waking you," Klaus said, taking a breath. Klaus tried closing the door again and Diego held it open. 

"Something's wrong," Diego whispered searching the visible side of Klaus' face for answers. From what he could see, Klaus' face was puffy, red and streaked with black. 

"Just leave!" Klaus answered harshly. 

"I"m not going anywhere. Either you let me in or I'm camping the rest of the night out here." Not even Diego knew what possessed him that night. Diego hated disturbing his Klaus' privacy, but if it meant that Klaus was okay then he was willing to do much more for one simple reason. If Diego had done more, Klaus probably wouldn't have had to find solace in drugs. If Diego had done just a little bit more Klaus wouldn't be a junkie living on the streets doing God knows what to get food. 

That was all it took for Klaus to break. The sole thought that someone, someone real, was willing to be there for him. 

Klaus dropped his hand, leaving Diego to push the door open. The first thing Diego did was envelop his unrequited love into a hug. Just feeling Klaus stiffen made Diego significantly nervous. What had Klaus gone thought that he flinched at the feeling of other someone hugging him? 

"Ta-Talk to me," Diego whispered in Klaus' ear and Klaus, going against everything that was telling him to push the other man way, melted in Diego's embrace. 

"It's just so hard, Diego." 

"What is?" 

"Staying sober." 

Diego hugged Klaus harder. Only God knew how hard Klaus was trying. 

"Give-Give it to me," Diego said. 

"I can't." 

Diego's heart clenched. He couldn't leave Klaus like this. He needed to do something. 

Diego placed to fingers under Klaus' chin signaling him to raise his eyes to meet his. 

"Klaus... you're killing yourself. Ple-please," Diego pleaded, "you're-you're too. You're too-" 

Diego internally fought with himself. Why couldn't his words work when he most needed them? He needed to help Klaus if it was the last thing he did. 

Maybe what happened next could be blamed on overworked feelings or a serious case of miscommunication, but Diego did the only thing he could think of in order to convey his feelings to Klaus. Diego grabbed Klaus’ cheek softly and placed a chaste kiss on his lips. 

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. What in the world did Diego do? As much as Diego wanted this, Klaus was emotionally unstable right now and Diego shouldn't take advantage of that. Diego separated their lips, but Klaus brought them into a second kiss. All Diego knew was that second kisses where underrated, but they needed to stop. 

"Klau-Klaus, I can't bare-bare to..." 

Looking into each others eyes they both silently decided to talk about it later, the only thing that mattered to them was each other. Klaus looked away as he digged in his pocket and fished out his pills, finally handing them to Diego. 

Diego sat them down on Klaus’ bed and positioned them so Klaus was leaning on Diego and Diego could hug Klaus from behind. 

"You're so brave," Diego whispered in Klaus' ear, making Klaus sob again. 

"You are," Diego said, "You're brave and special and beautiful and one of the strongest people I have ever meet. Don't ever think otherwise." 

One part of the Umbrella Academy claim to have heard Diego in Klaus' room and had supposedly seen Diego leave Klaus' room at the crack of dawn. The other part knew that was highly improbable, but couldn't refuse to see how close Diego and Klaus' were the next day. The shared clandestine smiles, the silent whispers, the secret touches they swore no one else knew about except for them. However, nothing of that matters to them. The only thing they all know for sure is that Klaus and Diego were together now and together nothing was going to beat them. Or so they thought.

**Author's Note:**

> Wowowowow you made it to the end how surprising. I'M CERTAINLY GOING TO REGRET THIS IN THE MORNING.


End file.
